Setting the Caged Bird Free
by Hoshixsama
Summary: Atsuko was just the ordinary kunoichi in the academy. What happens when she's placed on the same team as the two superior shinobi in class? She may not know a lot about fighting, but she sure knows a lot more about living your life to its fullest. NejixO


Hey everyone! I hope you like my first fic!

--

"Whew... I'm glad that's over."

A young girl wiped the sweat from her brow as she set a large bag of rice on top of four other bags. She looked around the market stall and grinned. "There. Now I should be able to leave unnoticed..."

"Suko-chaaan! Are you finished with the rice yet?"

Atsuko froze in her spot, her heart giving a hard beat as she heard a guy's voice. She quickly looked around and bolted away from the stall.

"No!"

Laughing to herself, Atsuko weaved her way through crowds as she made her way towards her family friend's shop. Albeit, the family's daughter was one year younger than she was, she was a good friend with the girl. She had to admit; the girl was way prettier than she would ever hope to be. As she reached the small shop, she opened the door and yelled loudly.

"Ino-chan!"

Atsuko blinked as she saw no one at the register; the flowers filled the lonely room with a sweet aroma. Atsuko puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms as she walked towards the register.

"Ino, where are you?"

Atsuko jumped as a loud crash came from one of the back rooms, along with a painful groan.

"Atsuko... I'm back here."

Atsuko quickly made her way around the counter and into the back room to find Ino under a pile of empty crates that once held vases for shipping. Ino was currently immobilized and looked rather funny. Atsuko held back a grin and started tossing boxes off of Ino.

"What were you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?"

Ino huffed as Atsuko lifted the last box off. "No, I was trying to stack them... and besides, why did you come here? Isn't today one of the days that your shop's busiest?"

Atsuko grinned and wagged her finger at Ino. "Ah, I don't recall ever remembering about that... you know my memory. All I remembered was to visit my dear friend Ino."

Ino nodded and smiled. "Anyway, how did you do? I mean, you just passed the exam yesterday, right?"

Atsuko nodded and gave Ino a thumbs up. "Yep! Barely, though... It was a test on taijutsu. Taijutsu's my worst technique."

Ino laughed as she led Atsuko back to the front of the shop. "Yeah, tell me about it... The last time I saw you use taijutsu, you pretty much destroyed yourself instead of the training dummy."

Atsuko stuck her tongue out at Ino and crossed her arms. "Nyaa. At least I don't walk around town stalking people."

Ino sighed and clasped her hands together; her eyes gaining a dazed look to them as she started to smile in ecstasy. "Ah, my Sasuke-kun... I do _not_ stalk him; I merely end up going wherever he's going. Hah, it's not like you have anyone for yourself anyway."

Atsuko rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, well, the only guys in my age group are either not interested, jerks, idiots, or have serious superiority complexes. I'd rather be single, thank you very much."

Ino sighed agitatedly as she ushered Atsuko out of the flower shop. "Anyway, I have to close shop and make my way home. What time were you supposed to go to the academy and get into your new cell?"

Atsuko blinked and crossed her arms. "Uh... ten thirty, why?"

Ino gave Atsuko a flat face and pointed down the street. "Well, it's ten twenty right now, and it takes fifteen minutes to get to the academy from here."

Atsuko blinked as a bank expression came upon her face. "Ten... twenty?"

Atsuko yelled loudly before making a run for t down the street. "Sayonara, Ino-chan!"

Ino crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows as she watched the overly excited teen make a break for it down the street. "Someone always has to watch out for that nut..."

--

Atsuko was running at full speed towards the academy, barely dodging people in the street. Atsuko saw the academy coming up and grinned.

"Almost there!"

Atsuko put all of her effort into making it to the school when she saw a blur in front of her. Before she knew it, she ran head on into something and tumbled to the ground.

"Ouch...! What the heck...?"

Atsuko looked down to see that she was on top of someone. Taking a closer look, she saw that it was one of her classmates.

"Lee-san...?"

Lee looked up to See Atsuko blinking down at him. Lee blinked and smiled slightly.

"Atsuko-chan...!"

Atsuko nodded and quickly got off of Lee, offering a hand to help him.

"Ready to meet your new sensei?"

Lee nodded, an anxious look on his face. "Yes... I'm just worried about what team I'll be placed on."

Atsuko nodded and started to walk towards the academy. "Well, good luck, Lee-san."

Atsuko sighed as she heard the bell ring. "Great..."

Glancing back, she saw Lee following her into the building. Atsuko wasn't exactly friends with the guy, but she wasn't mean to him either. Sure, he may be a little strange and he was weak, but so what? Atsuko wasn't exactly the greatest shinobi herself. What use was it to pick on someone else? Meh, it was too troublesome anyway.

Atsuko quietly found her seat as the teacher gave her a stern glance. Atsuko laughed nervously and watched as Lee sat down next to her. The teacher paused before continuing with whatever he was saying.

"... and now we will split you into three man cells. The first team will have Might Gai as their leader."

As the teacher said this, a man with a bowl-cut and a spandex jumpsuit came forward. Atsuko felt the whole room take on a strange atmosphere as everyone remained silent.

"Team Gai will be composed of Tenten, Neji, and Lee."

Atsuko let out a breath as she saw Lee stand up to walk over to his new sensei.

"Good luck, Lee-san."

Lee nodded to Atsuko and walked up to Gai along with Tenten and Neji. Atsuko furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Neji and Tenten walk up. They were the best female and male in the whole academy. Atsuko started to feel a little pitty for Lee, for he had to be compared to both of the top ranking shinobi. Atsuko sighed and listened to the teacher as he kept reading off cell names.

--

Atsuko watched as the only other person beside herself was placed into a group. Blinking, Atsuko looked around and laughed nervously. She slowly raised her hand as the teacher wrote something on his clipboard.

"Ano... sensei...?"

The teacher looked up and smiled at Atsuko.

"Ah, Atsuko... you were the odd one out, so we decided to put you in whichever team didn't mind having you."

Atsuko gave her sensei a flat face as a few snickers were heard around the room.

"Okay then... lets see..."

Atsuko raised an eyebrow as Gai walked forward from his spot and jabbed his thumb at himself.

"I would be happy to have her in my group."

Atsuko felt a chill go down her spine as Gai gave her a friendly smile. _Please... another teacher...?_

Atsuko felt her face go blank as her teacher nodded. "That sounds fine. Atsuko, you are now a part of team Gai."

Atsuko blinked and looked at who would be her new teammates. Atsuko felt her stomach drop as she saw the two best shinobi of their age level staring at her.

"Dandy..."

Atsuko slowly got up from her seat and took a place next to Lee as she watched her new teacher grin at them.

"Hello, my youthful students. I will be your new sensei!"

Atsuko blinked and looked at her teammates, who had the same curious look that she held. Atsuko guessed that this was only the beginning of the insanity.

--

Gai had taken the students up to a small landing on a small watchtower that overlooked Konoha. Neji was sitting farthest to the right with Tenten by him, Lee by Tenten, and Atsuko last. Gai was standing in front of all of them and looked proudly down at them.

"Okay! Now, would you mind starting off by telling me your names and your goals?"

Gai looked expectantly at Neji, who closed his eyes and remained silent for a moment.

"Hyuuga, Neji."

Gai disregarded the fact that he didn't say any goals and moved on to Tenten. Tenten grinned and started to speak enthusiastically.

"I'm Tenten, and I want to be the greatest kunoichi, just like the legendary Sannin Tsunade!"

Gai nodded at Tenten. "Good for you!"

Lee was next and was looking at Gai with determination in his eyes. "I'm Rock Lee, and I want to prove that with hard work, anyone can beat a genius..."

Lee then took a quick glance towards Neji before Neji started to retort.

"You won't ever be able to beat a genius... our fate has already been set. You'll always remain a loser."

Lee furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his hands into tight fists. "That's not true! I will beat you someday!"

For a second, Gai looked admiringly at Lee, but returned his face to a calm smile. "Settle down, now! There's no need to argue... now, it's your turn to go."

Atsuko blinked as everyone turned towards her. Laughing nervously, Atsuko rubbed the nape of her neck.

"Uh... my name's Ryuushin, Atsuko. I just want to be the best that I can..."

Gai nodded and clapped his hands together.

"Good! Now that that's all taken care of, lets go down to the training grounds!"

Atsuko blinked and furrowed her eyebrows. "What... already?"

Gai nodded and struck a pose at his students.

"We can't let our youthfulness whither away! All the other teams are probably heading back, but there's still plenty of time before the day is over! Now, lets go!"

Everyone stood up and started to follow an enthusiastic Gai. Atsuko sighed and jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Tenten smiling at her.

"I'm glad there's another girl on the team. It would have been strange with only two guys, neh?"

Atsuko smiled meekly and nodded. "Yeah, but I bet you would have been fine. You were the best of the class, after all."

Tenten grinned happily as Atsuko returned her attention to following Gai to the training grounds.

"What have we gotten into...?"

--

All of the students were standing in a line facing Gai as he was instructing them. He then held up two bells before his students.

"Okay, our first field test will be this: You will have to take these two bells away from me. Whoever has a bell will be able to stay on the team, and whoever fails to receive one will end up going back to the academy."

Atsuko's eyes widened as she heard Gai say this. Looking at her teammates, she saw that they also had a little surprise on theirs as well.

Tenten crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Hold on, I thought we already passed all of our tests..."

Gai grinned and crossed his arms. "Ah, yes... We have those tests as preliminaries. You have to pass this one in order to make it, though. This exact test is given to all of the academy graduates, so you better try to get these away quickly. Oh yes... you have until sunset to get these bells away from me. Once it's sunset, it's over. Whoever fails to retrieve the bell will not only head back to the academy, but will also have to run fifty laps around Konoha with me."

All of the students started to feel a little anxious as Gai said this. Atsuko then felt her stomach drop when Gai placed the bells on his hitai-ate around his waist... when he was wearing his spandex suit. She quickly shot a look at Tenten, who was giving her the same exact look. This was going to be a nightmare for the both of them... Gai clapped and they both returned their attention to Gai.

"Now, on my mark, we'll start. Ready... steady... Go!"

Everyone disappeared as they made way to a hiding spot. Atsuko was currently hiding in a tree when she found Lee sitting next to her.

"How are we supposed to get the bells away from him...?"

Lee frowned and watched as Gai looked around for any sign of his students.

"We don't stand a chance on our own..."

Atsuko nodded when something clicked in her head. 

"Wait, that's it! Lee, you rock! (a/n: no pun intended...) This test must be set up to get us to work together."

Lee looked at Atsuko with a worried look.

"But there are only two bells..."

Atsuko frowned as well as Gai started to walk to another spot.

"I know... but we don't have a chance unless we work together. Are you up to it?"

Lee glanced at Gai before furrowing his eyebrows and nodding at Atsuko.

"Yeah! So, what do we do?"

Atsuko thought for a moment as she watched a flicker in the trees on the opposite side of them. It must have been Neji or Tenten... Atsuko turned towards Lee with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you any good at Taijutsu...?"

Lee blinked and nodded. "It's the only thing I _can_ do..."

Atsuko grinned and nodded. "Good, because I suck at it... I'll try to cause a distraction, and you can take the initiative to get the bells while I keep him busy. If all fails, we can head back to a hiding spot and regroup to think up another plan."

Lee nodded and stared down at where Tenten was engaged in battle with Gai.

"Okay!"

--

Tenten was forced to withdraw from her battle when Gai ended up throwing her into the bushes. Atsuko nodded to Lee as she started doing hand seals.

"Let's do our best!"

Atsuko jumped down before Gai with a kunai in her hand. Gai smiled and got into a fighting position as Atsuko bared her other hand full of shuriken.

"Come!"

Atsuko threw the shuriken at Gai, who easily avoided them and charged at Atsuko. Atsuko quickly jumped back and avoided a punch to her shoulder as she tried to slash at Gai with the kunai. Gai grinned as he threw another punch at her stomach, which she barely avoided.

"Good, but you'll have to do better than that!"

Gai felt his eyes widen when Atsuko threw her arms around his waist.

"Gotcha...!"

Gai felt his eyes widen when he saw an exploding note on her back.

"What...?"

Atsuko jumped down from the trees and activated the seal with a grin.

"Bunshin no jutsu..."

The Atsuko keeping Gai in place ginned up at her sensei.

"Better yet?"

Gai threw the bunshin off of him just in time to avoid the explosion, but felt another presence behind him. Lee was throwing punches at Gai, who was blocking the blunt of them.

"Not bad, but you still don't have the skill it takes to bring me down with taijutsu."

Lee smiled and grabbed Gai around the waist like the Atsuko bunshin.

"Good thing I'm not the real Lee..."

Gai furrowed his eyebrows as he saw another exploding note on Lee's back.

"Another bunshin...?"

Gai punched the bunshin through his back and jumped away quickly as the exploding note was triggered. He then felt a punch hit his back as he was thrown forward a little. He looked back to see Lee in an offensive position. Gai grinned and started his assault on Lee.

"Not bad, you two! Not bad at all..." As Gai avoided a kick, he quickly glanced at Lee's back to make sure it wasn't carrying an explosive note. Smiling to himself, he blocked Lee's kick when he saw no note.

"So you're the real one, eh? You don't have any force behind your attacks; you'll have to do a little better than that."

Lee smiled when he saw Atsuko behind Gai.

"I don't need to any more..."

Atsuko made a grab for the bells when Gai started to move. Seeing her hand straying, she felt her eyes widen as she quickly pulled her hand back. She felt a little sick as she watched Gai jump away.

"I could have been traumatized..." Atsuko was mumbling to herself as Gai jumped into the center of the clearing. Lee raised an eyebrow, as his teammate was standing rigid and talking to herself.

"Atsuko, are you aright? You could have gotten the bells..."

Atsuko shook her head. "No, he moved too quickly. Lets try again."

Lee nodded but felt his eyes widen as Neji and Tenten easily grabbed the bells as Gai's attention was at Atsuko and Lee.

"That's not fair...!"

Atsuko nodded and furrowed her eyebrows. "We worked harder than them, but they ended up getting them... where's the justice in that?"

Atsuko furrowed her eyebrows as Gai congratulated Neji and Tenten.

"Whatever... there's nothing we can do now."

Lee nodded and sighed. "Well, it looks like we'll be heading back to the academy..."

Atsuko nodded as Gai led the other two to them.

"Good job, guys! You helped your teammates get the bell by distracting me, didn't you?"

Atsuko was tempted to say a smart remark, but held it in and remained silent with Lee.

"Well, I guess you all knew the true meaning of the test... so you all pass!"

Atsuko blinked and looked at Lee. For a second, they were both silent, but then the both of them started to laugh. Tenten raised an eyebrow at the both of them, and Neji merely glared at the two.

"Uh... are you two alright?"

Atsuko nodded and grinned. "Yeah, we're fine... it's nothing."

Gai nodded and crossed his arms. "Well, now that you all have finished today's session, I suppose it's time I let you go. Be back at this training spot at eight o'clock sharp!"

Atsuko furrowed her eyebrows and slouched a little.

"Ugh... so early..."

Tenten held the same expression that Atsuko had. Girls needed their time to get ready... Neji closed his eyes and started to walk off without a word. Atsuko glared at his back as he walked away. _He must be one of the superiority complex people..._

Atsuko sighed and smiled tiredly at everyone.

"Well, I guess I'll see everyone tomorrow."

Atsuko then started to head off to her house, hoping that she wouldn't be scolded by Kira for abandoning him at the shop... or better yet, hoping that he forgot.

--

Okay! End of chapter one. Man, I would hate to do he bell test with Gai... I mean, when he puts the bells on his hitai-ate, it's hard not to notice... _there_. . Anywhose, please review! Thanks for reading.


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